The Question
by Thireven
Summary: He had finally relaxed. Then she came up to him. And asked him THE QUESTION.


"Are we going yet, are we going yet!" Marlene screeched, jumping up and down in excitement. When Cloud nodded, she screeched again, holding her hands together as she jumped yet again. "Come on, my little bundle of joy," Cloud said, giving Marlene a genuine smile. He called her **his **bundle of joy, thus causing her to screech again. She rushed up to him, wrapping her arms around his legs tightly. "I love you so much, Cloud!" "I love you too, sweetheart. But you'd best save that love for Barret and Tifa, too," he said, winking towards her.

He ushered her out the door, to where the Fenrir was parked just outside the entrance to Seventh Heaven. He grabbed her, lifting her up by the shoulders, and placed her gently on the bike before getting on himself. He looked down at her as she looked up at him, and he smiled, patting her on the head. Then he placed his hands on the handlebar, revved the engine, and soon they were speeding down the highway, soon to leave Edge behind.

0

They had to drive awhile, in the canyon as he looked for the path he always used to go up to Zack's grave. Once he spotted, he looked down at Marlene and said sharply, "Make sure you hold on tight." She nodded, gripping her hands onto Fenrir as Cloud drove the bike up the side of the canyon wall.

In all honesty, it had scared her as it had the several other times. Even though it wasn't as steep as the rest of the wall, it was still steep enough to make her feel like she was going to fall off. But thanks to Cloud, that never happened, seeing as he always made sure she was safe. She kept her eyes on Fenrirs' black shape, and that seemed to soothe her slightly.

At the top of the path, they went flying into the air, Cloud wrapping one arm around Marlene. Their landing was rather rough, but Marlene was safe, and for that Cloud felt relieved. He picked her up, placing on the ground beside Fenrir so that he could safely climb off. As soon as he as his feet touched the ground, Marlene dashed off to where the original buster sword was, already eyeing her target: flowers.

It'd been three months since they had been ridded of geostigma for good. Apparently the rains had touched even this barren land, for now surrounding Zack's grave were a large number of red flowers. _Thinking about it now, it seems kinda ironic… _Cloud thought to himself as he walked up to the flower bed, watching as Marlene carefully picked several flowers. _So much blood was spilled here. And it was just a man versus an army…He did a good job…To bad I won't get to thank him anytime soon…_

He sat down behind the buster sword, facing the Midgar as Marlene continued to pick flowers. He sighed, looking at the canyon. Flowers of many colors were blooming in different places, reds, blues, whites, yellows…It was like a sea of colors bursting to life, reaching new heights each day.

"Hey Cloud, I've got a question!" Marlene yelled, running over to him and nearly jumping on top of him. She sat on his lap, looked up at him, and smiled. He smiled back and adjusted himself so that both he and Marlene would be comfortable. "So, what's your question?" He said, grinning, his spiky blond hair waving in the slight breeze. His mako eyes gleamed with joy as he looked at Marlene.

"Well, I've got two," she said, giggling. "The first one: why do your eyes gleam like that?" She looked up innocently at him as he searched for the right words. "Well, years ago, I got put in a tank that scientist used for test subjects, and I was one. And so the big bad scientist put a lot of mako into me. That's why my eyes gleam really brightly," he said, looking down at her. "Really, that was mean of them to do," she said, puffing out her cheeks. "Yeah, it was, but that's why I'm so strong." "Oh, that's cool! So mako can make you all big and strong and stuff?" "Well, yeah, if you're careful." "What do you mean?" "Well, you can get mako poisoning, which is really bad." "What does it do to you?" "Well, it makes it to where you can't speak and hardly move." "Well, that's really bad!" "It happened to me once. Right after I had the mako put into me." "Well, that's no good!"

"Okay, okay, settle down. What's your second question?" Cloud looked down at her, smiling happily as she adjusted herself, looked at him and grinned. "Are you sure it's okay for me to ask, Cloud Cloud?" He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "It's okay, I assure you. I'll answer it for you." He smiled again making her squeal. "You always look so cool when you smile, Cloud!" she yelled, clapping her hands. "Anyways, aren't you going to ask me your other question?" Cloud reminded, her, making her perk up. "Yeah, I am!"

She shifted her position so that she was sitting directly under Cloud and facing the same direction as him. "Well, Cloud Cloud… Where do babies come from?" His mood suddenly dropped: his shoulders drooped, the shine in his eyes dimmed, and he gave her a questionable look. "What was that…?" "I said 'Where do babies come from?'!" She puffed out her cheeks and looked up at him. He was shocked: She had actually asked him THE question.

"Well Marlene…I'm not sure it's okay to really explain…" He blushed, looking up and away from her. "You said that you would answer me!" she yelled, hitting him on the arm as hard as she could. He looked down, and then shifted his position. "…" "Tell me!" she yelled, grabbing a hold of his shirt. "Please Cloud! I wanna know!" He stayed silent. "Fine, when we get home, I'll ask Tifa! And I'll make sure I tell her that you didn't answer me!"

He looked down at her, and then sighed, leaning against the Buster Blade. This was already beginning to be a long day. "Well…When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, they decide to have a lot of fun. After that, the mommy gets a big belly. After nine months, the baby is born."

She looked up at her, eyes wide, almost as if she was waiting for more. "That's it," he said, shrugging. "So, babies come from mommy's tummies?" "Yep…" "Thank you," she said, smiling widely, and then she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, then looked down at her. "You ready to go give Vincent and Tifa their flowers?" "Uh huh!"


End file.
